With a steady stream of bad news stories about maimed soldiers, the Boston Marathon bombing and the house of horrors in Cleveland, it would be natural to despair for the human condition. What defect in the human character allows us to do such things?

But the survivors of these terrible ordeals tell a different story, one of courage, strength, determination and hope. It is the story of the indomitable human spirit.

Iraq war veteran Army Sgt. Brendan Marrocco lost his arms and legs to a roadside bomb in 2009. Not satisfied with his prosthetic arms, Marrocco took a major risk by opting to become the first soldier to receive an arm transplant. The 13-hour double transplant surgery was the first ever performed at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and only the seventh to be performed in the United States. read more »

Last week I joined over 100 leaders in Washington, D.C., to speak to members of the House of Representatives about a top retail priority issue, marketplace fairness. After more than 10 years of discussion with local, state, and national leaders, I think we are finally ready to resolve the congressional concerns.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still opposition groups out there trying to confuse the issue so that online retailers don’t have to collect sales taxes due to states. The competitive edge of tax-exempt prices continues to erode the growth and survival of our retailers. The winners in this debate have been online retailers who don’t collect sales tax. read more »

For the first time in the past 10 years there is a transportation bill in the state House that if passed could sustain the ferry system for the next 10 years. Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Bellevue) has been a bulldog this session and is trying to pass a new revenue package that would support much-needed improvements to a number of transportation areas including the ferry system. Her package of bills, totaling $8.4 billion, would provide $856 million in new revenue for the ferry system.

If this package of bills were to pass, the ferry system would be financially sustainable for at least the next 12 years. These bills have passed out of the House Transportation Committee and, hopefully, will be considered during the upcoming special session. read more »

Air travelers received a bit of good news recently: A bill to put air traffic controllers back to work whisked through the House and Senate and flew into the White House for President Obama’s signature.

Why the quick action?

Millions of constituents were outraged with how the FAA handled a 4 percent budget cut mandated by the sequester. Instead of focusing on non-essential personnel, the FAA furloughed 10 percent of its 15,000 air traffic controllers each day, causing more than 40,000 flight delays and 1,900 cancelled flights, according to FlightStats.com.

Interestingly, the D.C.-area airports that serve members of Congress were exempt from the service cuts — a pure coincidence, testified one FAA official. Nevertheless, Congress felt the heat from angry voters, and some experienced those delays firsthand when they traveled outside D.C. read more »

Even some of its strongest supporters now say that the federal Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is going to be a train wreck. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, cost estimates for Obamacare’s new entitlements — the Medicaid expansion and exchange subsidies — have doubled since it was signed into law in 2010.

The CBO originally estimated the cost at $898 billion from 2010 to 2019, but this estimate included only six years of spending, since most of the provisions didn’t take effect until 2014. read more »

The tragic events in Boston last month serve as a stark and vivid reminder that we face risk every day. Regardless of whether it’s in business or in our personal life, our acceptance of dealing with anticipated and non-anticipated peril starts when you crawl out of bed.

As a business owner or manager, you’re probably in charge at some level in being a leader in the face of crisis. A bombing like what occurred at the Boston Marathon will most likely never happen to you (although merchants and business leaders in Boston may not have envisioned it, either). That being said, I promise you that you will face different crises in your business that imperil your operations, your revenue, and your reputation. read more »

The more I observe local politics, the more I agree politics make strange bedfellows.

For example, Port Orchard City Councilman Fred Chang, an ultra-liberal, and in my view, less than honest Democrat, up for re-election in November, recently held a kickoff fundraiser. No surprise there. What is surprising is where it was held and who attended and contributed to his campaign. The venue was the B&B owned by Republican PCO Gil Michael — who many believe is actually Port Orchard’s “real” Mayor, in spite of the fact no one elected him. He’s been referred to in the online comments in the Kitsap Sun and Port Orchard Independent as well as Facebook and Twitter, as Mayor Tim Matthes’ “puppetmaster,” something many people familiar with Port Orchard politics believe is absolutely true. read more »

The last time Port Orchard’s mayor held court at the dog and pony show he calls his town hall meetings, he waxed sentimental at evening’s end and talked about the kids. Said he likes to “deputize” youngsters and tells them their job as deputy mayor is to “just tell everybody you see you love Port Orchard.”

Because, gosh darn it, if folks just realize how nice and friendly everybody is here in Mayor Tim Matthes’ town, then pretty soon things will start to turn around for sure. You betcha, kids. read more »

There’s an old saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Well, what happens in Seattle should stay in Seattle.

Seattle officials had a bad idea a couple of years ago, and now some state lawmakers want to expand that bad idea statewide.

The bad idea is Seattle’s paid sick leave policy that applies to any business with five or more employees, even if that business isn’t located in Seattle.

Approved in 2011, the controversial ordinance says that, if one or more of your employees spends more than 240 hours a year — or about 10 percent of their time — in Seattle on business, you must pay them pro-rated benefits, even if your company is located in Everett, New York or Milan, Italy. read more »